[Report] 9th Place at Untouchables Vintage Triple-power, July 7

[kombat]

On Saturday, July 7, 2007, Untouchables held a triple-power tournament in Mississauga, Ontario.  59 players attended. First prize was an Unlimited Ancestral Recall, second prize was an Unlimited Time Walk, and third was a Beta Timetwister.  Fourth got some cash, and a raffle was held for 4 Antiquities Mishra's Factories (all 4 seasons) for players who preregistered.  A free single-elimination side event was held for a Mana Drain, after round 3 of the main event.

Team Wasted Travel once again decided to make the trip, since power tournaments are non-existent in Ottawa.  4 of us made the trip, chaffeured in style by Mike and his BMW.  Myself (Hulk Flash), Mike Gouthro (Hulk Flash), Glenn Miller (Gro-A-Tog), and Robbie Patterson (Bomberman) represented Ottawa.  We drove up Friday night and stayed at a local Novotel.  We briefly considered testing and deckbuilding, but decided instead to check out one of the hotel's bars and make sure beer in Toronto tastes the same as it does in Ottawa.  I'm happy to say it does, but we had to make sure.  We topped off our evening with a round of Jaeger-bombs, then raided the room's minibar for some chocolate.

We checked out around 9:30 AM Saturday morning and made our way to Untouchables.  Turns out they don't open until 10:00.  We had breakfast at the mall's McDonald's (except for Mike, who opted for undeniably healthier fare at CoffeeTime - way to set the example Mike).  Untouchables opened and we went inside and mingled.  The North Bay crew made the trip, but sadly, the Quebecers couldn't work out transportation arrangements and didn't attend.  They'd announced this a few days earlier on the forums, so I expected much less Bomberman than usual in the metagame, which was a big part of my decision to play Hulk Flash.  Turns out there was still plenty of Bomberman in attendance, and I faced my share of it.

Leading up to the event, I'd been wavering between 3 decks: Hulk Flash, Bomberman, or Gro-A-Tog.  I decided to play Hulk Flash, as did Mike. However, Mike opted for a build that runs 3 Duresses, whereas I decided to run 2 Dazes and a 4th Protean Hulk instead (Mike only ran 3 Hulks).  I ended up finishing better than Mike, but I don't know if you can attribute that to our card choices, as I didn't cast Daze a single time all day.

Here's the list I ran:

4 Protean Hulk
4 Virulent Sliver
1 Heart Sliver
1 Elvish Spirit Guide
3 Street Wraith
4 Force of Will
3 Pact of Negation
2 Misdirection
2 Daze
4 Flash
4 Summoner's Pact
3 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Merchant Scroll
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
4 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
2 Island
2 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island

Sideboard
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Chain of Vapor
3 Echoing Truth
3 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Reverent Silence

Shortly after 12, it was announced that we had 59 players.  There would be 6 rounds of Swiss and cut to top 8.  One thing I really like about Untouchables is they're quite prompt with respect to minimizing the time between rounds.  When the last match of a round finishes, the next round usually starts within 10 minutes, which is really nice.

Thanks to advice from Stephen Menendian, I kept good notes throughout the tournament without losing my focus on the game (with one exception).  I used shorthand which let me reconstruct all my games in detail.  However, for those of you with the attention span of an ADHD 5 year old who just chugged a Red Bull, here's the ...

EXTREMELY SHORT VERSION

Round 1, LOST 1-2 vs. UW Fish with Grand Arbiter Augustin and Sphere of Resistence due to crucible-strip-lock.
Round 2, WON 2-0 vs. UW Divining Top/Counterbalance Fish through Stifle on Hulk
Round 3, WON 2-1 vs. Hulk Flash mirror, he mulled himself too low game 3
Round 4, DRAW 1-1-1 vs Bomberman, too hard to bounce both Leyline and Engineered Explosives
Round 5, WON 2-0 vs. Gro-A-Tog, drew great hands
Round 6, WON 2-1 vs. Bob-Bomberman, Chained the hate and won

I finished 4-1-1, but just missed the top-8 cutoff, finishing in 9th place out of 59.

And for those of you who prefer a blow-by-blow analysis, here's the ...

EXTREMELY DETAILED VERSION

Round 1 vs. Andrew Van Leeuwin, UW Fish w/ Spheres and Grand Arbiter Augustin

Andrew rolled a 17 and I rolled a 4, he elected to go first.

Game 1: I kept a hand with 2 lands, a Flash, and a Hulk.  A turn 2 win.  I didn't know what I was up against, so I decided to take a shot.  Andrew had an explosive opening, leading off with a Mox Ruby, Tolarian Academy, Ancestral Recall, and a Mox Pearl.  On my turn, I laid my Polluted Delta and passed the turn back.  On his turn 2, he tapped out and played Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, making all my spells cost 1 more.  Unable to stop it, my turn 2 win just got pushed out to turn 3.  He passed the turn back to me, and I laid my other Polluted Delta.  One mana short of going off, I had no choice but to wait.  On his turn, he swung with the Grand Arbiter, laid a strip mine, and Brainstormed into a Sphere of Resistance, which he played.  I cracked my Polluted Deltas finding Islands to drop a Mox Sapphire.  On his turn, he played a Crucible, getting a Crucible-Strip lock on me and effectively ending my game.  He beat me down with the Arbiter.  However, he didn't know what I was playing, so I had the sideboard advantage.  I brought in some Hurkyl's to try and deal with the Spheres, probably a bad call on my part.  Massacres would've been much better, but I wasn't running any.

Game 2: On the play this time, I had a solid opening hand: Black Lotus, Island, Merchant Scroll, Protean Hulk, and 2 Summoners Pact.  I lacked the protection, but I didn't see him play any countermagic in game 1, so I risked it.  I played a Black Lotus, and laid an Island.  I cracked the Lotus for blue, casting Merchant Scroll finding Flash.  I cast Flash, he had no response.  Turn 1 win.  Now that he knew what I was playing, he headed back to his sideboard.

Game 3: Back on the play, Andrew led with another strong opener, playing Mox Pearl and a Flooded Strand, breaking the Strand for a Tundra and casting Time Walk.  On his Time Walk turn, he cast a Glowrider, which I had to read.  This was bad news for me.  I had kept a hand with Flash and Hulk, but my only mana was a pair of Moxes (Jet and Sapphire).  The Glowrider put me in a position of desperately needing to topdeck a land.  I didn't find it.  He attacked with the Glowrider and scrolled up Ancestral Recall.  A couple turns later, Grand Arbiter Augustin came down, locking me out even further.  His creatures slowly beat me down in what was a very frustrating first matchup.

Matches: 0-1-0, Games: 1-2-0

Round 2 vs. Simon Locke, UW Divining Top/Counterbalance Fish

My first match finished pretty quickly, so I had been watching my teammate Glenn finish his round 1 match.  Simon had been Glenn's opponent, so I knew exactly what Simon was playing.  They had played to a draw.  I felt a little bad sitting down against him (he recognized me and knew I'd been watching), but that's what happens sometimes.  He'd know what I was playing soon enough.

Simon rolled a 2, I rolled a 15 and elected to play first.

Game 1: I laid and Island and passed the turn. Simon laid a Flooded Strand and passed the turn back. I played a Brainstorm, a Flooded Strand, dropped a Mox Jet, sacrificed my Strand for a Tropical Island, then cast Merchant Scroll for a Flash.  On my end step, he cracked his Flooded Strand for his own Underground Sea and Brainstormed.  On his turn, he played an Island and dropped a Counterbalance, which I let resolve.  I had a Force of Will in hand, but I'd have to pitch my Flash. At this point, I had the win in hand.  However, he had just watched me scroll up a Flash, and Brainstormed, and played a Counterbalance, so I was pretty sure the top card of his library would have a CMC of 2 to counter my Flash.  So on my turn, I decided to wait for him to draw the (CMC 2) card he'd Brainstormed back before trying to go off.  I played a Flooded Strand, then hardcast a Virulent Sliver.  On his turn, he laid his own Flooded Strand and played a Voidmage Prodigy.  However, he had only 1 untapped land left (the Flooded Strand), so he would be unable to use it this turn.  I still had Force of Will, but that wouldn't stop Counterbalance from hosing me.  On my turn, I topdecked a Chain of Vapor, cast it on his Counterbalance, then cast Flash.  He had no response.  I found the rest of my Slivers and swung in for the win.

Game 2: Simon went first, playing a Polluted Delta and passing the turn.  I laid my own Delta and passed the turn back.  On my end step, he cracked his Delta for an Underground Sea. On his second turn, he laid a Flooded Strand and cracked it for a Tundra.  He passed the turn to me.  I laid a Lotus Petal, cracked my Polluted Delta for an Island and cast Flash and Summoner's Pact before passing priority.  He let the Summoner's Pact resolve, so I found Hulk, but he attempted to cast Stifle on the Hulk's trigger.  I had the Force of Will, and that's game.

Matches: 1-1-0, Games: 3-2-0

Round 3 vs. Scott Bailie, Hulk Flash

A mirror match.  It turns out that Scott is even using the same kill condition as me, with the Slivers.

We rolled a pair of D6's.  I rolled a 9, Scott rolled a 3.  I of course went first.

Game 1: We both mulliganed, him to 6 and me to 5.  I led with a Mox Jet and a Polluted Delta, then cycled a Street Wraith.  On his turn, he laid an Underground Sea and a Black Lotus, then Brainstormed and laid his own Mox Jet.  On my turn 2, I sacrificed my Delta for an Underground Sea, cast my own Brainstorm, and laid another Polluted Delta.  He then laid a Tropical Island, sacrificed his Lotus for red and cast a Heart Sliver.  I was surprised! He tapped the Tropical Island and cast a Virulent Sliver, and swung with both, burning for 1 and taking me to 15 (but more importantly, 2 poison counters).  I cast Flash, it resolved, I found my Slivers and swung for the win.  His 2 Slivers were tapped so they couldn't block, plus his own Virulent Sliver gave my Slivers an extra "Poisonous" attribute, making all my Slivers Poisonous:5.  I swung for 25 poison counters.

I sided in 4 Leylines.

Game 2: Scott of course goes first.  I had a Leyline in my opening hand but no mana.  I hoped the Leyline would hold him off long enough to assemble my win.  I started the match with the Leyline in play and Scott took his first turn, playing Polluted Delta, cracking it for an Underground Sea and casting Ancestral Recall.  Not a bad opener!  I attempted to Force of Will it, but he had his own Force to protect it.  It resolved.  He laid a Mox Pearl and passed the turn.  I drew for my turn and still had no mana, so I did nothing and passed the turn back.  He played a Flooded Strand, then tapped his Sea and Pearl for Merchant Scroll.  He scrolled up Echoing Truth, then sacced his Flooded Strand for a Tropical Island.  I drew for my turn, still not finding land (but I did find another Force of Will).  I did nothing and passed the turn back.  He laid a Polluted Delta, using it to fetch another Underground Sea, then passed the turn back to me.  Still not finding land, I did nothing for the third turn in a row.  On my end step, he attempted to Echoing Truth the Leyline.  I had no choice but to use the Force of Will, removing Flash.  On my turn, still no land.  On his turn, he Brainstormed.  On my turn, once again, nothing.  On his fifth turn, he hardcast his own Leyline.  We played "Draw-Go" for a few turns until I eventually found a Flooded Strand.  I cracked it, Brainstormed, and found Lotus, which I played.  I cracked it for green and hardcast a pair of Virulent Slivers.  He eventually bounced my Leyline and resolved Flash, attacking for the win.  This game went on much longer than Flash games are supposed to last.

Game 3: Back on the draw, Scott mulliganed to 5.  I assumed he was looking for a Leyline.  Fortunately, I had my own in my opening hand, but this time I also had some mana to support my game.  I opened with my Leyline, and was surprised when Scott didn't do the same.  On my first turn, I laid an Underground Sea and passed the turn.  Scott laid a Mox Jet and passed the turn back.  No land?  Ouch.  On Scott's end step, I cast Vampiric Tutor for Ancestral Recall, deciding my best chance was to capitalize on the card discrepancy between us.  On my turn 2, I drew and cast the Ancestral.  He attempted a Misdirection, but I had the Force of Will to protect it.  On his turn, he did nothing, and on my turn 3, I Flashed for the win.

Matches: 2-1-0, Games: 5-3-0

Round 4 vs. Robbie Patterson, Bomberman

It really sucks getting paired against teammates.  We briefly discussed a draw or a concession, but we decided to play it out.  I rolled a 6, Robbie rolled a 4.  I chose to play.

Game 1: I laid a Tropical Island and hardcast a Virulent Sliver.  On Robbie's first turn, he laid an Island and a Mox Emerald, then passed the turn back. I laid an Underground Sea and attacked, taking him to 19 and 1 poison counter.  I then laid a second Virulent Sliver, and mentally slapped myself as I recognized I should've played the second Sliver BEFORE attacking, as then Robbie would have 2 poison counters now instead of just 1.  At any rate, I then attempted an Ancestral Recall, which Robbie attempted to Misdirect.  I Misdirected in response, and my Ancestral resolved.  I laid a Lotus Petal and passed the turn.  On Robbie's turn 2, he cracked his Strand for a Tundra, then cast Trinket Mage, which I Forced.  He laid a Polluted Delta and passed the turn.  On my turn 3, I drew Flash, then cast Demonic Tutor for the Hulk.  At this point, I debated just finding another Virulent Sliver, as he had no creatures, and the 2 Slivers already in play would dole out 6 poison counters, taking him to 7 total.  Then next turn, if even 1 Sliver got through, he'd have 10 poison counters.  He'd need to cast 2 creatures on his turn to stay alive.  Nevertheless, I went for the Hulk and attempted to Flash.  Robbie cracked his Delta in response, then Brainstormed, and drained my Flash.  I attacked with 2 Slivers, taking him to 5 poison counters.  It didn't matter, as he couldn't resolve a creature and my 2 Slivers delivered 4 more poison counters, taking him to 9.  The next turn, he was in the same situation, needing 2 creatures.  He showed me his hand.  He could've cast the Trinket Mage, but was 1 mana short of getting the Salvager too, so 1 Sliver was destined to get through and deliver the lethal poison.

Game 2: Robbie leads off with a Black Lotus, cracking it for white, using 1 of it for a Sol Ring, which I Force of Willed, sensing a Salvager in my future.  It turns out I acted 2 quickly, as he used the remaining 2 white to drop an Engineered Explosives for 1.  Ouch!  That shuts off my combo until I can deal with it.  On my turn, I dropped a Flooded Strand and passed the turn.  Robbie laid a Tormod's Crypt on his turn 2, which didn't worry me as it does nothing against the Sliver kill.  On my turn, I laid another Flooded Strand, cracked both for an Underground Sea and a Tropical Island, then cast Merchant Scroll finding Flash.  This was probably a mistake, I should've gone for Ancestral.  On Robbie's turn 3, he dropped a Wasteland and nuked my Underground Sea.  On my turn, I did nothing, having only 1 mana and an Engineered Explosives at 1 sitting out there.  Robbie followed up with a Strip Mine on my Tropical Island the next turn, clearing my board.  Why oh why didn't I get the Ancestral.  I played a Mox Jet, and we settled into "Draw-Go" mode for a few turns, before Robbie eventually tried to Flash in a Mindcensor.  That's bad news for me, but I couldn't do anything to stop it.  Robbie beat me down as I drew everything except land.

Game 3: Back on the play, and with Robbie mulliganing to 5, I felt I had a good chance.  That feeling evaporated as Robbie dropped a Leyline into play before the game started.  Still, I wasn't too worried, as I had sided in extra Chain of Vapors to deal with his hate.  I led with an Island, Mox Jet, Brainstorm, which resolved.  I passed the turn and Robbie dropped an Engineered Explosives at 1.  We went back and forth a bit, until he tried to cast a Mindcensor, which I Force of Willed.  He resolved a Trinket Mage, but knowing the Crypt and Needle were useless against me, and already having his Engineered Explosives in play, he opted for some extra mana and found a Mox Pearl.  I had everything I needed in my hand, but needed to deal with the Leyline and Engineered Explosives.  Trinket Mage beat me down for several turns, until I finally had 2 Chain of Vapors in my hand, but I lacked the mana to cast both, plus the Flash, on the same turn.   I waited until his end step and tried to bounce the Engineered Explosives.  He Drained it.  Sigh.  A few turns later, I Merchant Scrolled for another Chains.  Now with 2 in hand again, I made my move.  I Chained the Leyline.  It resolved.  He now only had 2 cards in hand, and one was the Leyline.  I Chained the Engineered Explosives.  My heart sank as he hardcast his Misdirection, saving his Engineered Explosives.  Trinket Mage continued to beat.  I noted the time was almost up, and I made my final, desperate move.  Having exhausted my supply of Chain of Vapors, I cast Demonic Tutor for Black Lotus, played the Lotus, then cracked it for green and hardcast Protean Hulk.  My hand was 2 Force of Wills and a Pact of Negation, and I had the mana to pay the upkeep of the Pact, should it come to that.  I was down to 2 life at this point, so I held my Hulk back to stave off the Trinket Mage.  Time was called, we went to turns, and I dedicated my countermagic to keeping him from playing more creatures.  It turned out to be unnecessary anyway, as Robbie couldn't find any more creatures.  We went back and forth for our 5 turns and drew.  We again discussed conceding, but decided that we both still had a chance to make it in with a draw on our records.  This decision turned out to be our undoing, as it meant one of us was very likely to get paired against another teammate, Glenn, who had taken a draw in round 1.

Matches: 2-1-1, Games: 6-3-1

Round 5 vs. Glenn Miller, Grow-A-Tog

The nightmare scenario, another teammate.  If I'd known this is how the numbers would work out, I'd have insisted Robbie and I agree to a win instead of a draw.  However, I'm not intimately familiar with how the voodoo math behind DCI Reporter works its magic, and didn't see this coming.  Glenn and I decide that since we both already have 1 draw on our record, a draw at this point is not an option.  We play it out.  I roll a 19, Glenn rolls a 15.  I'm on the play.

Game 1: I led by cycling Street Wraith, playing a Polluted Delta, and cracking it for a Tropical Island, and hardcasting a Virulent Sliver.  Glenn played a Library of Alexandria and passed the turn back.  This didn't bode well for me, as Library's card advantage can quickly become insurmountable.  I needed to end this game ASAP, or at least make him play cards from his hand and get him below 7.  I already had Flash/Hulk in hand, but I didn't have any protection.  On my turn, I laid a Flooded Strand and cracked it for Tropical Island, then cast Merchant Scroll, which Glenn Force of Willed.  I swung with my Sliver, dealing a poison counter.  On Glenn's turn, he laid a Tropical Island, then tapped out to cast Time Walk, which resolved.  On his Time Walk turn, he cast a Quirion Dryad.  On my upkeep (I was tapped out from the attempted Merchant Scroll my prior turn), I cast Mystical Tutor for Pact of Negation, and drew it.  On Glenn's turn, he dropped an Underground Sea, but did nothing else.  I untapped and cast Flash for the win, with Pact of Negation backup.

Game 2: Glenn mulliganed to 6 and started with a Leyline in play.  He led with an Island and a Mox Emerald, then passed the turn.  I dropped a Flooded Strand which I cracked for an Underground Sea.  On my end step, he attempted to cast Opt.  I cast Ancestral Recall in response.  He cast Force of Will, which I Misdirected to his own Opt.  My Recall resolved and Glenn was not happy.  I drew into goodness.  On Glenn's turn, he cast Merchant Scroll for his own Ancestral Recall, but didn't have the mana to cast it.  On my turn 2, I cast Vampiric Tutor for Flash on my upkeep, drew the Flash, played Black Lotus, cracked it for blue, used one of the blue to Chain the Leyline, then cast Flash.  Glenn had the Force of Will, but I had both Pact of Negation and Force of Will (with another blue card) to protect it.  Glenn was a little miffed that the deck was so resilient, and rightfully so.  That's precisely why I decided to play it today!

Matches: 3-1-1, Games: 8-3-1

Round 6 vs. Eugene Lo with Bob-Bomberman

After round 5, I looked at the standings.  Eugene was the only other person with 10 points whom I hadn't played yet, so I was certain I'd be playing him.  I did a little scouting, and the North Bay guys clued me to what he was playing.  Not another UW-fishy matchup, geez.  We rolled a set of D6's.  Eugene rolled an 11, just barely edging out my 10.  He chose to play first.

Game 1: Eugene led with a Tundra, then a Black Lotus, which he broke for black, casting Duress, taking my Ancestral Recall.  He used the remaining mana to cast Thirst for Knowledge.  Not a bad start!  On my turn, I laid an Underground Sea and my own Black Lotus, then passed the turn back.  I'd been relying on that Ancestral Recall, and it really hurt to lose it.  Eugene Brainstormed on his main phase, then laid a Strip Mine and nailed my Sea, leaving me with just the Lotus.  He laid a Mox Sapphire and passed to me.  I laid a Flooded Strand and passed back.  He laid his own Strand, which he broke for Underground Sea and cast Trinket Mage, finding Pithing Needle, which he lacked the mana to cast.  On my turn, I laid a second Flooded Strand. On Eugene's fourth turn, he attacked with the Trinket Mage, then cast the Needle, which I casually let resolve.  He named Flooded Strand.  I'm such an idiot!  I looked at my board: Flooded Strand, Flooded Strand, Black Lotus.  Doh.  Huge misplay on my part.  He followed up with an Ancestral Recall, Lotus Petal, and a Wasteland.  I played a Mox Sapphire, giving me at least a little mana combined with the Lotus.  On his turn, he attacked with the Trinket Mage, then dropped Engineered Explosives for 0.  He played a Dark Confidant and popped the Engineered Explosives, leaving me with just a pair of useless Flooded Strands.  Sigh.  At least he doesn't know what I'm playing (or so I thought - after the match, he said he put me on Flash when he saw the Elvish Spirit Guide in my hand when he Duressed me turn 1).  Still, he didn't know what kill I was using.  I figured I'd let this game play out and see as much of his deck as I could while hiding my own cards, so I'd have the sideboarding advantage.  He attacked with the Trinket Mage and Dark Confidant while I drew no more lands.

Game 2: Still upset about my huge misplay, I gave myself a mental gut-check to straighten up and pay attention.  I led with a Flooded Strand and passed the turn. He laid his own Flooded Strand, but followed up with a Mox Jet, Mox Sapphire, and a Lotus Petal.  Wow!  He cracked his Strand for a Tundra, then cast Thirst for Knowledge, which I thought was a mistake.  Why not hang onto the Lotus Petal to discard to the Thirst?  He ended up discarding 2 non-artifacts, missing out on the real card advantage potential of Thirst for Knowledge.  This was probably the big mistake that cost him this game, but then again, I don't know what else was in his hand.  On my turn 2, I laid an Underground Sea, cracked my Strand for an Island, then cast Merchant Scroll finding Pact of Negation.  On his second turn, he dropped a Wasteland and hardcast a Leyline of the Void.  I thought maybe that's why he played the Lotus Petal instead of ditching it to TFK, but if Leyline had been in his hand at that point, he'd have put it into play before the match began.  He must've Thirsted into it.  At any rate, I Forced the Leyline, and he couldn't protect it.  He Wasted my Underground Sea, leaving me just the Island.  I wasn't worried, I had 2 Summoner's Pact in hand.  On my turn, I cast Summoner's Pact for Hulk, which resolved.  Then I cast Summoner's Pact for Elvish Spirit Guide, which again resolved.  I pitched the ESG and tapped my Island to Flash in the Hulk, which resolved.  I went through the combo, because he wanted to see what I was using for a kill condition.

Game 3: I mulliganed to 6, he kept his opening 7.  Thankfully, no Leylines showed up to spoil my fun.  He led with a Mox Sapphire, Mox Ruby, Tolarian Academy, and a Chalice for 2.  Wow, Eugene had some lucky opening hands this matchup!  Game 1, land + Lotus.  Games 2 and 3, land + multiple moxes.  On my turn, I laid a Flooded Strand and broke it for a Tropical Island, hardcasting a Virulent Sliver.  He eventually got out both a Wasteland and a Strip Mine, and I was sitting on a pair of Fetchlands.  He played an Engineered Explosives for 1.  He stripped my Tropical Island, leaving me with just the 2 fetchlands. I had the necessary 2 Chains of Vapor for the Chalice and Engineered Explosives, and I had the win in hand with protection, but my only mana sources were the 2 fetchlands.  If I broke them on his end step to Chain the Explosives and Chalice, he'd strip one of them and prevent me from being able to cast Flash on my turn, then he'd just recast them.  I need either another mana source, or for him to tap his Wasteland and Strip Mine.  I put pressure on him by attacking with the lone Virulent Sliver, eventually taking him down to 14 life (or, more importantly, 6 poison counters).  I'd forced his hand: he popped the Engineered Explosives to stop the pain.  Now, I only had the Chalice to deal with.  I topdecked a land, broke my fetches, chained the Chalice and Flashed for the win, needing to use both Misdirection (pitching the second Chain of Vapor I'd been holding for the Engineered Explosives) and Pact of Negation to protect it.

Matches: 4-1-1, Games: 10-4-1

At this point, I felt my chances of making top-8 were great.  I had gotten paired up in round 2, facing Simon, who'd drawn with Glenn in round 1.  Robbie won his matches too (although one of his opponents hadn't shown up so Robbie won by default, hurting his tiebreaks).  Nevertheless, looking at the standings prior to this round, I felt we both had realistic chances, and it was pretty much a given that one of us would make it in.

The standings went up.  I sat in 9th place and Robbie was in 10th.  We'd both just missed the top-8.  I went through all the phases: denial ("How can that be?  What must've happened in the matches above us?  Maybe one of my match slips got filled out incorrectly?  How can 4-1-1 not make it?"), anger, blame ("Robbie and I should've agreed to a win/loss instead of a draw"), disappointment ("This sucks, let's get out of here and go home."), and eventually acceptance.

The tournament was a lot of fun, but it was incredibly frustrating to put up such a great showing and still go home empty handed.  It seems to be the story of my tournament life lately. Glenn and Mike also finished in the top third of the field, but none of us won anything.  If either Robbie or I had scooped to each other, then things would've been a lot different.  I guess that's how it goes sometimes.  Now I know better.

We drove home and had a spirited argument about whether or not Flash will be restricted in September.  I was the only "no" voice.    The deck is undeniably strong, but it's not without its weaknesses.  Leyline on its own isn't that hard to deal with (the deck has the necessary bounce maindeck and 4 Merchant Scrolls to find it), but when combined with other hate (Engineered Explosives, Chalice), it becomes difficult to combat.  I think more tournament results are needed before definitively saying whether or not the deck is degenerate or format-warping.  The bottom line is that both Mike and I were playing Flash, and neither of us even made the top 8, let alone winning anything.  Apparently, not a single Flash deck made the top-8.

So what did I learn about the deck?  It's ridiculously easy to play, and pretty resilient.  It has room for loads of protection, and has the answers it needs to get out of situations.  It has an "Oops I win" factor that puts off a lot of players.  I firmly believe the Sliver kill is the best one devised to day.  It's unaffected by Pithing Needle and Tormod's Crypt, both of which hose the Kiki-Jiki kill.  The deck has a difficult Bomberman matchup.  Mindcensors, Chalice, and Engineered Explosives are all "must-counters" for the deck.  If you're playing the Kiki-Jiki kill, you can add Pithing Needle and Tormod's Crypt to that list.  With the Sliver kill, even if a Virulent Sliver gets stuck in your hand, you can just hardcast it.  If a Heart Sliver shows up in your hand, you'd need to either Brainstorm it away, or just go off on your opponent's end step, untap, and win regularly without haste.  That's till 16 poison counters.  If they block one, 12 still get through for lethal.  It doesn't feel nearly as clumsy as the other kills devised.

Flash is here at least for the summer, and I think there's still room for improvement.  We'll see if it puts up the results to warrant consideration for restriction.  It was pleasant to play a deck that isn't as mentally demanding as other combo decks, but I still managed to find ways to make play mistakes (not popping fetchlands in response to a Pithing Needle, scrolling up Flash when Ancestral is the better target).

Thanks for another great tournament, Untouchables.  See you in October for the Lotus event.

[goobafish]

Congrats. I don't know if I met you, I was playing the only tendrils combo deck there, with the Infernal Contracts. The event was well run, and well supported in terms of prizes.These tourneys are always the best in the area and definitely the most fun. Hopefully we can talk next event!

[ErkBek]

Thanks for the report, I'm very interested to read about Flash. Your report was very detailed and read well which was really nice. 9th place going  4-1-1 sure does suck though.

You seem to really fear Leyline, so why didn't ever bring in Reverent Silence? Also, is there a reason that you didn't play massacre on the board?

I'm not sure why you wouldn't want to run at least some off color moxes or a mana crypt. Moxen really help power out a turn 1 kill so you don't have to worry about things like Duress or EE as much (plus you can play more turn 1 scrolls). I understand that Pact/ESG can provide this support at times, but you can't rely on that for mana unless you are comboing out that turn.

On my end step, he attempted to cast Opt.  I cast Ancestral Recall in response.  He cast Force of Will, which I Misdirected to his own Opt.  My Recall resolved and Glenn was not happy.

I love when that happens.

[kombat]

You seem to really fear Leyline, so why didn't ever bring in Reverent Silence?

As with any combo deck, there's a strong risk of over-sideboarding.  In my earlier matchups, I found the problem cards were more than just Leylines.  It was Aven Mindcensors, Engineered Explosives, and Chalices.  I found I needed a more versatile way to address post-sideboard threats, so my strategy was to focus in bumping up the count of bounce in my deck.  In a couple matchups, I actually did bring in Reverent Silence, but I never got to cast it.  Plus, my bounce spells can be searched out with Merchant Scroll, whereas Reverent Silence can only be found with 3 of my tutors.

Also, is there a reason that you didn't play massacre on the board?

When I heard the Quebec guys weren't coming, I (wrongly) assumed the Bomberman count would be low.  As it turned out, there was still plenty of Bomberman present, and not running Massacre in my sideboard was a mistake.  Next time, I'll run it.  It's a strong answer to Aven Mindcensor.

I'm not sure why you wouldn't want to run at least some off color moxes or a mana crypt. Moxen really help power out a turn 1 kill so you don't have to worry about things like Duress or EE as much (plus you can play more turn 1 scrolls). I understand that Pact/ESG can provide this support at times, but you can't rely on that for mana unless you are comboing out that turn.

This is probably the second-biggest debate regarding Hulk Flash (the first being which kill condition is the best).  Myself, Mike, and Ryan Trepanier had a lengthy discussion about how much mana to run, and whether or not to run Street Wraith.  Mine and Mike's position is that a deck like this seeks to win out as fast as possible, so Street Wraiths are a necessity to help you dig faster.  And since we're only running an effectively 57-card deck (due to the Street Wraiths), the mana requirement is lower.  Mike and I both ran with 17 mana sources (16 plus the ESG), which seemed ridiculously low to me at first.  Heck, I put more mana than that in my 40-card draft decks!  How can a 60-card Vintage deck get by with so little?

Well, it turns out that the deck is incredibly cheap.  Look at my list, look at the cards that I intend to play for free:

Street Wraith (cycle)
Pact of Negation
Summoner's Pact
Daze
Misdirection
Force of Will
Lotus Petal
Black Lotus
Mox Sapphire
Mox Jet

Nothing in the deck costs more than 2 to cast.  That said, "why not trade some of those fetchlands for moxes, and really speed up your kill?"  I think that's what you were asking, right?  Well, we tested it, and it turns out that when you run with so few mana sources to begin with, you're only going to see 1 or 2 in your opening hand most of the time.  If they're a couple off-color moxes, then the hand is unkeepable.  In any game, you're only going to see a few mana sources, so it's essential that they're in colors that you can use.  Upping the mana count to something more reasonable (Ryan advocated 20) takes away slots somewhere else, and the deck is already extremely tight.  Look at my list again, I was only running 3 Brainstorms.  I'd have loved to run 4, but something had to make room.  It's very tight.  And the results speak for themselves, I went 4-1-1 with this build.

And you're right about the ESG.  It's tempting to side it out after game 1, but it's crucial that you leave it in.  It allows all 4 of your Summoner's Pacts to function as a colorless Mox.  In game 2 of round 6, I needed to do exactly that, Pacting up my ESG to cast Flash after committing the rest of my mana to chaining obstacles.  I found that this often makes up for the low mana count, and helps power out a turn-1 win now and then.

Thanks for reading.

[Shock Wave]

Thanks for the great report! Untouchables probably runs the best events in the province, and we certainly appreciate your continued support. I'm not sure if I met you at the event. I'm acquainted with several of the Ottawa guys, but the only one I know by name is Glenn, because I'm the worst at keeping names to faces.

We drove home and had a spirited argument about whether or not Flash will be restricted in September.  I was the only "no" voice.  Smile  The deck is undeniably strong, but it's not without its weaknesses.  Leyline on its own isn't that hard to deal with (the deck has the necessary bounce maindeck and 4 Merchant Scrolls to find it), but when combined with other hate (Engineered Explosives, Chalice), it becomes difficult to combat.  I think more tournament results are needed before definitively saying whether or not the deck is degenerate or format-warping.  The bottom line is that both Mike and I were playing Flash, and neither of us even made the top 8, let alone winning anything.  Apparently, not a single Flash deck made the top-8.

So what did I learn about the deck?  It's ridiculously easy to play, and pretty resilient.  It has room for loads of protection, and has the answers it needs to get out of situations.  It has an "Oops I win" factor that puts off a lot of players.

Well, I can't say that Flash will be restricted for sure in September, but I certainly think it should be. In my opinion, the fact that it has weaknesses is not a good enough argument to keep it from being restricted. Aside from the fact that it just randomly nukes people before they get to play their cards, there's the whole idea of perceived weakness in the deck that is actually double-edged sword. In fact, its "weakness" to Leyline is actually a benefit to the deck in the long run. The reason is because it forces the metagame to hedge strongly with Leyline of the Void in the sideboard, which is actually a horrible card for most archetypes. It forces these archetypes to keep Leyline opening hands, regardless of whether they are playable in a natural game. It also forces decks to mulligan into Leyline, sacrificing otherwise promising hands that would die to an early Flash. This is a huge advantage for Flash because it severely skews mulligan decisions. Take a look at that match you had against Eugene, for example. His opening 7 was a very playable hand, against anything except Flash or Ichorid. Now, if he mulls that hand, he is almost certainly going to get a weaker 6 even if he hits a Leyline. It's also possible that he doesn't hit a Leyline. Then what? Mull to 5? Mull to 4? This is an example of a very Trinisphere-ish Catch 22.

This is the sort of impact that these degenerate archetypes have on the format. This is heavy, heavy skewing of the nature of the game and the environment. It is reducing the level of interactivity in the format and has certainly become less fun. I played in this event and I ended up splitting in the finals and I can safely say that out of all the events that I've played in, this one was the least fun. I spoke with a fair number of players at the event regarding the state of the environment that also agreed with me, so I know I'm not alone.

[kombat]

This is the sort of impact that these degenerate archetypes have on the format. This is heavy, heavy skewing of the nature of the game and the environment. It is reducing the level of interactivity in the format and has certainly become less fun.

I don't think this is the right place for a restriction discussion, but like I said, Flash didn't put up the results this weekend.  That said, an awful lot of people ran Leylines in their sideboards, even when they had no realistic way of ever hardcasting them, including several of my opponents.  I think a lot of people are running it out of fear of Ichorid, too, but I only saw 1 Ichorid player there this weekend. Everybody seems to assume that Ichorid is going to be a powerhouse, so they run Leylines in the sideboard, but I think we're seeing that nobody is gutsy enough to actually play the deck, especially knowing all the Leylines are out there.

I played in this event and I ended up splitting in the finals and I can safely say that out of all the events that I've played in, this one was the least fun. I spoke with a fair number of players at the event regarding the state of the environment that also agreed with me, so I know I'm not alone.

Well I'd disagree with that, I thought it was plenty fun.  I don't know what the actual metagame breakdown was, but I only know of 3 Flash decks that were present (myself, Mike, and Scott Bailie.  I'm sure there were a couple others I missed, but the overwhelmingly dominant archetypes this weekend were GAT and U/W Fish decks.  They were all over the place.  So I'm not sure how 3 or 4 Flash decks could've ruined the party when they didn't even top-8.  But maybe I'm misjudging how many Flash decks were there.

I had a great time, and I'm looking forward to the Lotus event in October.

[diopter]

Take a look at that match you had against Eugene, for example. His opening 7 was a very playable hand, against anything except Flash or Ichorid.

In other formats, opening hands can be great against one sector of the metagame and complete garbage against another sector of the metagame. The situation you cite is not a sign of an unhealthy metagame per se.

[Shock Wave]

Take a look at that match you had against Eugene, for example. His opening 7 was a very playable hand, against anything except Flash or Ichorid.

In other formats, opening hands can be great against one sector of the metagame and complete garbage against another sector of the metagame. The situation you cite is not a sign of an unhealthy metagame per se.

Actually, it is, because you're not interpreting the context of that statement properly. I was not arguing against the fact that some hands are playable and some hands are not. I was arguing that because archetypes are forced into mulling into Leyline, that they are far more likely to have to keep an unplayable hand on the basis of Leyine being in their opening grip. This certainly imposes a very haphazard catch 22 that is unhealthy for the metagame.

[kombat]

I was arguing that because archetypes are forced into mulling into Leyline, that they are far more likely to have to keep an unplayable hand on the basis of Leyine being in their opening grip.

Is this really so different from needing to mulligan into an Energy Flux when playing against stax, or a Force of Will when playing against combo?  If your numbers are correct and there were 7 Flash decks there, why didn't any of them make the top-8, if it's such a degenerate deck?

[Shock Wave]

I was arguing that because archetypes are forced into mulling into Leyline, that they are far more likely to have to keep an unplayable hand on the basis of Leyine being in their opening grip.

Is this really so different from needing to mulligan into an Energy Flux when playing against stax, or a Force of Will when playing against combo?  If your numbers are correct and there were 7 Flash decks there, why didn't any of them make the top-8, if it's such a degenerate deck?

It's actually infinitely different from both the examples you site. Force of Will is a good card, whereas Leyline of the Void is terrible. Force of Will stops your opponent's spell regardless of what it is, and you aren't obligated to play it until necessary. It can help you progress your development by protecting your spells, whereas Leyline is just pooped out blindly in the hopes that it will catch the opponent with their pants down, and puts you down a card in the process.

The biggest difference, unrelated to the cards, is the fact no deck can kill you with greater consistency than Flash on Turn 1, not even Grim Long. When Grim Long can kill you on Turn 1, which is a reasonable amount of the time from a brokenness perspective, a Force of Will will put a large enough dent in their plans that you'll have time to develop your game and actually play. This leads to the answer to your last question, which people keep asking, even though it has been answered many times (and that's ok, because it's important that people are able to make this distinction):

A deck does not need to be dominant or extremely resilient to disruption in order to qualify as degenerate. The problem with Flash, much like the problem with Trinisphere, is that it is not conducive to player interaction and it warps the environment by forcing all decks to hedge strongly against it. Trinisphere said "I'm going to play my 2 card combo, and unless you have FoW, I'm going to win the game a very high percentage of the time. In addition, even if you have FoW, I hope your deck and sideboard revolve around beating me, otherwise I'm going to just rape you anyways. In addition, while I'm in the process of winning the game, you can just sit there and watch me stuff my cards up your ass while you enjoy your land drops. If you have any, I hope they're basics!"

Flash one-ups Trinisphere. It says "I'm going to play my 2 card combo. If you have FoW, it's not going to be good enough an unfair amount of the time. If I'm really lucky, I'll bust through 2 of your FoWs as well, just to spite you. Don't worry though, because instead of giving you any hope of recovering, I'm going to painlessly kill you right now."

In a nutshell, the reasons Flash is extremely degenerate are:


a) It cheats mana costs more than any other combo deck. Look how many free spells it runs! We've grown accustomed to having a few free spells in Vintage. 30-35% of your deck though? That's absurd.
b) It warps the metagame by forcing decks to run Leyline (a horrible card), which severely puts decks at a disadvantage post-sideboard because they are forced to recklessly mulligan into it.
c) The most important point: It kills you on Turn 1 and 2 with unacceptable frequency. This is a crippling blow to the element players enjoy most about playing Magic: interactivity! Read Forsythe's quote regarding the restriction of Trinisphere:

"Vintage, like the other formats with large card pools, always runs the risk of becoming non-interactive, meaning the games are little more than both players “goldfishing” to see who can win first. Trinisphere adds to that problem by literally preventing the opponent from playing spells. We don't want Magic to be about that, especially not that easily. If combo rears its head, we'll worry about it later. But for now, we want to people to play their cards. Really."

Unless things have changed, and Wizards no longer places a premium on being able to play your cards, then Flash is clearly damnable by the same reasoning.

[kombat]

The problem with Flash, much like the problem with Trinisphere, is that it is not conducive to player interaction and it warps the environment by forcing all decks to hedge strongly against it. Trinisphere said "I'm going to play my 2 card combo, and unless you have FoW, I'm going to win the game a very high percentage of the time."

Rich, I'm not sure the comparison to Trinisphere is valid.  If you lose the die roll and Stax goes first, your only answer to Trinisphere is Force of Will.  With Flash, there are multiple answers, and the most effective one is completely free and uncounterable: Leyline of the Void.  It's easy for everyone to pack Leylines in the sideboard to hose Flash.  But what were people supposed to pack in their sideboards to stop a first turn Trinisphere?  There's nothing.  They have to play blue.  Leyline doesn't force you into black the way Force of Will forces you into blue.  So in that respect, I would argue that Trinisphere had a far more metagame-warping effect than Flash is having.

Flash one-ups Trinisphere. It says "I'm going to play my 2 card combo. If you have FoW, it's not going to be good enough an unfair amount of the time."

But those times when it is enough don't just mean you survived turn 1, they mean you won the game, because Hulk Flash dies to its own Pact triggers.  Hulk Flash is more all-or-nothing than Trinisphere.  Stax matches didn't revolve entirely around resolving Trinisphere the way Flash matchups revolve around resolving Flash.  A countered Trinisphere just means they'll try again later.  A countered Flash (after a Pact has been played) is game over for the Flash player.  No matter what their next topdeck is, they can't get back into that game.  They're dead.

a) It cheats mana costs more than any other combo deck. Look how many free spells it runs! We've grown accustomed to having a few free spells in Vintage. 30-35% of your deck though? That's absurd.

I would argue that Ichorid is a combo deck that also horribly cheats mana costs.  However, Vintage is entirely about cheating mana costs!  Oath gets you a creature worth 5WWW for the cost of 1G.  Tinker gets you an 11/11 trampler worth 11 for 2U.  Force of Will gets you a spell worth UU (counterspell) for the cost of 1 life and a blue card.  Yawgmoth's Will gets you ... well, it gets you an effect that can barely even be quantified in mana terms, but it only costs 2B.

Other decks are doing it too.  Grow-A-Tog is back, and it rarely pays for Gush, but rather plays it for free.  Some builds run Submerge in the sideboard, again, playing it for free.  Many decks are packing Massacre or Contagion in the sideboards, for the "free" aspect.  I think we're seeing an evolution in Vintage.  A large number of decks are taking advantage of the unprecedented number of "free" spells available to them.

I will agree, however, that Hulk Flash is one of the worst offenders.  It gets by on a criminally low amount of mana (my build runs 16, plus the ESG).  A nasty side effect of that however (as evidenced in my tournament report from last weekend), is that it has a hard time dealing with sphere-effects.  Grand Arbiter Augustin, Sphere of Resistence, Glowrider, and Chalice for 0 are all very difficult for Flash to bust through.

"Vintage, like the other formats with large card pools, always runs the risk of becoming non-interactive, meaning the games are little more than both players “goldfishing” to see who can win first. Trinisphere adds to that problem by literally preventing the opponent from playing spells. We don't want Magic to be about that, especially not that easily. If combo rears its head, we'll worry about it later. But for now, we want to people to play their cards. Really."

Again, I'm not sure the comparison to Trinisphere is valid here.  To beat Trinisphere, you have to mulligan into Force of Will, which means you have to play blue.  To beat Flash, you have to mulligan into a Leyline, which doesn't force you into any color, since anyone can play it.  Thus, I don't think Flash is as metagame-warping as Trinisphere was.

I think the crux of the disagreement here is, "If a deck is so strong that it requires you to dedicate 4 slots to defeating it, is that an acceptable effect on the metagame?"  I think it is.  When Stax was strong, combo had to run Energy Fluxes in the sideboard, solely for that matchup.  Was that so bad?  When Gifts rose to power, people tried all sorts of things to stop it.  Stifles, Shadow of Doubt, Children of Korlis .. the metagame was dedicated to beating Gifts.  Yet Gifts wasn't restricted until well after the metagame had already adjusted to handle it anyway.

Where do you draw the line between a metagame "evolving" and a metagame "warping?"

[Implacable]

Two quick points:

1) Flash should run more mana sources than this list did.  As evinced by the report itself, a larger number of mana sources is needed to play through Spheres (or Arbiter)

2) Something that NOBODY is talking about is Leyline of Singularity.  When Blue decks say "I need to run Black for LotV", I don't understand; Singularity is just as nasty v. Flash and Ichorid as is Void.

[Addolorisi]

To beat Flash, you have to mulligan into a Leyline, which doesn't force you into any color, since anyone can play it.

I'd say a deck that has people running a 4-of they can't cast is more format distorting than people running a card that is effective versus just about any threat your opponent can throw down, and not dead every time you draw it outside of your opening grip.

Further, all the flash players citing Pacts is something I don't understand. No one makes you play 8 Pacts, nor makes you cast them if you suspect your opponent is holding multiple counters. The version I'm testing with does just fine on only 5 pacts and the instances where I lose to Pact are no different than fizzling with any other combo deck.

[Implacable]

Most (the vast majority, judging from reports) Flash decks run 7-8 Pacts.  The difference between Flash combo and normal combo that people are pointing out is that Flash cannot recover from a fizzle; it just dies.  I'm curious: if you run only 5 Pacts, how do you consistently find/protect your combo (depending on what your Pact mix is).

[kombat]

I'd say a deck that has people running a 4-of they can't cast is more format distorting than people running a card that is effective versus just about any threat your opponent can throw down

That's misleading.  You don't need to "play" the Leyline, you just put it into play before the game starts.  It can't even be countered.  And I'm not denying that Force of Will is great against many more threats, I'm saying it forces you to run blue.  I'm saying decks that force everyone else to play decks based on blue is more metagame-warping than a deck that requires everyone else to include 4 cards in their sideboard, while leaving them the freedom to play whatever they like maindeck.

[Addolorisi]

I'm curious: if you run only 5 Pacts, how do you consistently find/protect your combo (depending on what your Pact mix is).

I was siding Duress in after every g1, so I just moved them to the main.

Pacts are rather concrete in that they don't give you the opportunity to rip a bunch of consecutive bombs after a fizzle, that's very true. But the net result is very rarely different from expending all your resources with traditional combo. It's certainly a valid criticism, I just don't believe that it's nearly as pronounced as the people defending Flash would have us believe.

I'm saying decks that force everyone else to play decks based on blue is more metagame-warping than a deck that requires everyone else to include 4 cards in their sideboard, while leaving them the freedom to play whatever they like maindeck.

Either blue or Workshops of their own. I think your argument is misleading and "forcing" decks to play around 19 or 20 blue cards really isn't warping at all. How many decks really would have played without blue in Vintage?

You don't need to "play" the Leyline, you just put it into play before the game starts.

I understand this quite well, that wasn't my point. So these decks mull into LotV and if they manage to get it, all subsequent draws (even if the first is removed - and including the first in the case of bounce) are unequivocally dead cards. Even worse, if they don't get it, it's still just as dead every time they draw it.